Ebola

[Ddrak]

So... going crazy much over there?

Dd

[Kulaf]

Nope.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Nope.

^

[Ddrak]

Well that's downright sensible of you all!



Dd

[Kulaf]

I think there is concern in the nursing community about not being fully prepped in Ebola protocols, but civilians are not panicking.

[Ddrak]

Media seems to be having a field day!

[Embar Angylwrath]

Obama has mishandled the messaging, in 24 hours going from days of "we don't need an ebola czar, CDC is doing just fine" to "I've appointed a political hack as ebola czar, because CDC isn't doing so good".

He's right on one point, CDC has fucked up. They weren't prepared for this. Lost in all the noise, is we already had a CDC "ebola czar", and she has been absent from the whole incident. She hasn't made one public statement about this. Another Obama admin failure. And of course the press isn't picking up on it.

That said, I work in the medical, radiological, and hazardous waste industry. I think it will be fine, but its obvious from my perspective the US isn't prepared for something like this. We are getting conflicting advice from CDC, DOT and CA state regulators on how to approach this. All of the medical waste processors in CA have refused to take ebola waste for processing. There is one I know of that is considering it, but isn't ready to do it yet. If we can contain this with just a few patients, I think we will be ok. If it gets out into the larger population, we aren't prepared. When I get calls from infection control specialists at hospitals for advice as to what they need to do with ebola, I know we aren't prepared for a larger outbreak.

[Ddrak]

Never even thought about the disposal side. Sounds like a bit of administrative panic going on from the way you describe things.

I'd be very surprised if there was significant spread in any first world nation beyond the first few nurses that screw up containment.

Dd

[Arathena]

The Canadians are now supplying an experimental vaccine to the WHO. They've licensed it to an American company for testing - but they can license it to a hell of a lot more if it works.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Never even thought about the disposal side. Sounds like a bit of administrative panic going on from the way you describe things.

I'd be very surprised if there was significant spread in any first world nation beyond the first few nurses that screw up containment.

Dd

My greatest fear is that someone in a big city monitors themselves after coming back from West Africa, ends up being infected and unknowingly spreads it to others before isolating themselves. Thankfully there's been no indication of any spread in NYC, but that's pretty much what I fear playing out.

[Ddrak]

My greatest fear is that someone in a big city monitors themselves after coming back from West Africa, ends up being infected and unknowingly spreads it to others before isolating themselves. Thankfully there's been no indication of any spread in NYC, but that's pretty much what I fear playing out.

Not going to happen with Ebola. Look at the instance of the guy who flew in Africa with advanced symptoms, collapsed at the destination airport from the disease in a large crowd of people and infected *no one*. It's just not contagious enough to spread uncontrolled in a medically aware nation.

As for the states putting quarantines around - it makes the whole thing *worse*. The best way to contain Ebola is make it EASY for trained professionals to go to Africa and contain the spread of the disease there. Making it impossible for them to return home is extremely counter-productive.

Similarly for people travelling from these nations - what's the plan: put people who might have Ebola in a holding pen with a bunch of people that don't? Good job! That'll definitely stop the spread! Not.

Dd

[Alluveal]

Not even a bit worried. I have too many microbiologist pals who edu-ma-cate me. The freak out more over the seasonal flu than this crap.

[Garrdor]

I got a bad case of Ebola from this old mucusy man who sneezed into my quesarito last night at tacobell drivethru